Apple HQ, Cupertino, United States

Steve Jobs presents Apple HQ concept

Unfortunate format for a city and like Masdar City a megastructure in decline even before it's built. Hardly a testimonial to urbanism and a sense of place. Mr. Jobs should stick to computer components and Sir Foster needs to think about what he is really doing with a settlement of twelve to fifteen thousand.

12,000 employees currently spread around the area minus the 2,600 already on site = 10,400 new staff times 100 sf per employee means 1,040,000 sf of empty space for Cupertino. Hurrah ?!?!?

14/06/11
Tomas, Oslo

What is revolutionary with this? Where is the human scale? and who are those people, cheerleaders or politicians?

14/06/11
Peter Fillat, Baltimore

I love my iphone ipad and notebook but I'm not loving this HQ design. When will corporate america take a step back and look at the kinds of spaces and places people truly enjoy and learn from them? I know of no space ships as worthy as a piazza in rome. I know of no natural environments as worthy as a street in piccadilly. Humans like to be around other people, old and young, rich and poor, pretty and ugly. Lets stop building these islands surrounded by trees and start contributing to a sence of place that is part of the community, open to all and enriching all. Apple could give Cuppertino a real center with a different approach. That would be a place worth visiting.

kudos for apple architects..... hardly simplistic. great plan for a great project. i look forward to seeing its development.

14/06/11
Scott Ellinwood, FAIA, Carpinteria, CA

So Jobs ego is too big to credit 'some of the best architects in the world'? They were good enough to get him to believe that is was all his vision and they only provided the drawings. Yes, It's great to open the site for landscape, bury the cars and more efficiently house his workforce.

It will be interesting to see how this simplistic formal circular statement is developed to respond to orientation for hopefully daylighting workplaces, shading and environmental responsibility.

Great project! Like the design and increase in open space. Buried parking is a great plan and added trees...way to go!!

Circular commercial volume for 13,000 employees planned for Cupertino

CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs gave a presentation to Cupertino City Council yesterday, detailing plans to create a new 3.1million sq ft commercial project in the city. Plans drawn up by ‘some of the best architects in the world’ (rumoured to include Norman Foster) show a circular ring of office units capable of accommodating 13,000 employees. Jobs animatedly explained his initial attraction to the site, as it previously belonged to his childhood idols Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.

Whilst the firm’s existing central campus holds 2,600 workers, the vast number of Apple employees means that a number of additional premises are currently being rented, radiating away from the core campus. Jobs wishes to combat this issue by forming a major new building which also has positive connotations for Cupertino as a whole.

The initial concept design was referred to as a ‘spaceship’, its circular form encompassing vast amounts of commercial space, with leisure facilities, cafes and R&D spaces for employee use. There will also be a main auditorium volume where many of Apple’s key presentations will take place. The site itself currently has 3,700 trees with native apricot orchards, however Job’s vision – with help from an expert arborist from Stanford University – is to increase this number to 6,000 with additional fruit groves.

At the moment, landscaping takes up only 20% of the 150acre site as large expanses of asphalt have been inserted as parking lots. The new concept looks to push most of the parking space underground, leaving 80% of the site clear for landscaping. The building footprint will also be reduced by 30%.